Development of a Brief Coping Checklist for Use with Pediatric Populations

Abstract

Although the process of coping and utilization of coping strategies has received widespread attention in the adult literature, there is a relative dearth of information on these processes in children and adolescents. As the importance of assessing and teaching coping strategies becomes apparent in behavioral medicine with adults, such investigations need to be extended to pediatric populations. The present study describes the development of a brief coping checklist. Preliminary psychometric investigations conducted with healthy adolescents demonstrated adequate reliability at 3-day, 7-day, 14-day, and 10-week intervals and concurrent validity with previously established measures of coping. The utility of the checklist with pediatric patients and in particular chronically ill children is also examined.